A lot of questions, flame on.
 

Hi guys,

I have a few questions for you guys
I recently stripped up my miata of all carpets and insulator. Floor and errthang.
I don't use the mid console with the shift boot so you can guess, in 100 degrees weather, it gets reallllllyyyy hot in the car. Like I can't see because of the sweat in my eyes hot.
I've seen a couple of guys on here use some acoustic mats and such products for sound deadening but these products do seem heavy and thick, and I want my miata to be light.

So the quesiton is :
What products do you know of that is very light, maleable and has a good heat insulation properties that could wrap up my tranny tunnel and keep the heat down.

I already have to change my shift boot insulator which is torn and lets in a ridiculous amount of exhaust heat, almost burnt my hand on the shifter the other dayyy.

another question !
I've completed shot my miata with rubber undercoating under and I've installed fm frame rails. I was wondering though if the holes I've drilled were gonna soak up moisture and potentially rust away my floor. I was in a hurry and wasn't thinking when I installed them and I know I should've put some sort of body sealer on them before bolting them in.
Anybody ever experienced that? (Mostly for my upnorth people since I live in canada)

and another one :
I have some severe rust on both of my rockers close to the wheel in the back, I have heard of a technique where people just patch up the holes with a sheet and epoxy it on so there's no welding, no warping no nothing. any of you ever tried it? I was also considering cutting the metal up and just laying some cloths of fiberglass and then bondoing over it to a minimum to keep the weight down... I got an estimate and they say 300$ for just one side (welded at a bodyshop). Fts

anyways, If y'all can help me out I'd really appreciate it .
If you have any questions to help you better answer me fire away im always on here.

alex

Try to minimize the janky fiberglass/bondo filling. It will make you sadder than you were happy about the money saved when the car starts to revert back to a rust bucket, bulging with fiberglass at the rockers, in a few years or less. I wouldn't consider making this about lightness if it sacrifices the integrity of the jack point at all. I found you don't really know how bad the rust is under there until you get in and look.

Here's what I did. You can probably get most of the way with just epoxy: https://www.miataturbo.net/general-m...ctorial-64629/

$300/SIDE for a shop to do rust repair is super cheap. Depending on how bad it is and what panel you need it almost costs that much in material.

There's plenty of threads for you to search for on the insulation topic.

Also, think its hilarious, lets just the interior then spray 20 pounds worth of rubber onto the bottom of the car.

Thansk Petrolmed! I'm afraid I can't get by without doing at least some welding :/
I guess I was ntreally clear as of where in the rocker area the rust was... a picture is worth a thousand words.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1401839320

oh and leafy thanks for the flame but if you wouldve seen under the car when I first got it you would've put some undercoating as well. Here's a picture of my subframe just to give you an idea. I'm not sure even with pictures you can understand the concept but please try.

where the engine sits was powerwashed, the rest is straight up rusty.
as you may not know, not everybody lives where you live. that's a fact. Hard to accept, I know.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1401839320
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1401839320
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1401839320
oh and there you can see, I couldn't remove the endlinks even using an allenkey in the bolt, y'know... becuase rust?
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1401839320

Now, I don't blame myself for putting undercoating under my main bitch. She deserves it.

That rust on the rocker is mostly superficial. Get some POR15, and follow the instructions. WEAR GLOVES, or you will have black hands for days.

A little sheet metal patched in (seal the seams!), then bondo as necessary to make it smooth. Prime and paint, and you're good to go.

you can use aluminum or gold tape on the underside to keep heat from the trans/exhaust down.

I would definitely do the body shop/welding method. it seems more of the "right" way than trying to do this with bondo.

Also when jacking up the car, you are actually supposed to put the jack stand right behind the pinch welds. there is a metal pad there to hold it.

Patching rust and covering it in paint to prevent it from coming back makes sense. Removing all 20# of interior plastics and spraying rubber undercoating on the bottom that weighs as much or more (and will trap moisture) doesn't.

That rocker rust doesn't look superficial to me. IIRC, there's not a lot of metal in the rockers on these cars. There's some pictures on this forum of someone who cut one in half.

Well as i was casually rolling down the road with my date. My water pump pulley came loose and shit went down. fixed it roadside like a boss but went to start the car and battery was dead. Time to get a new one asap.

On another note. I have another question for yall

Any of you using Vmaxx track pack? I have that set and the rear is awfully stiff, I've heard people remove the top springs. Who tried it and what difference did it make?
Theres a whoooole lot of squeaking and creaking ever since I installed that bbeeeetch

I don't have the vmaxx.

(this description may not be accurate) removing the secondary springs is going to make the noise worse probably. stiffer springs just transfer a lot more NVH than a supple one. noises are the chassis counteracting/flexing due to the force applied by the springs. its normal.

the stiff rear is probably because you are hitting the bump stops.

I turned the damper down to the softest setting and it helped a little bit.

Now on to another sound, whenever the engine needs torque, like low rpms in 2nd gear coming from a stop, theres this hissing/ticking/clicking sound coming from the tranny. It does it in all the gears but 5th. It's a bit worrying. I'm thinking clutch releasing bearing but I just changed it with my new clutch kit from FM, wonder if I installed it correctly. the noise comes between 1800-2500 rpms when I let go of the clutch and it engages. as I roll through the gear it stops. I don't knowwwww

as for the noise in the back goes, I'm thinking regreasing all my poly bushings might help a little bit, but the noises feel all too springy/tensiony almost like a boat creaking, I think youre right about the chassis flexing. Wonder if my frame rails help in that situatioN?

we'll get it one day. also have a CEL on now.. yay me

oh another interesting fact

I was prepping my car up at school to seam weld all my doors contours. My teacher walked by and called me a dumbass because he said the chassis flex in those areas were ''voluntary'' in case of an accident. He says it's meant to bend a bit. I don't know about welding my doors and everything now. Postponed it. Whats your take on seam welding? Am I really going to compromise my safety or is it just bs?

You're driving a one-ton car in a country where drunk people drive four-ton F650's and 80 year old men who need medicine to get it up can drive a fifteen-ton RV without a commercial license. You're not safe. You never will be.

Weld it up.

That's what I thought, for the difference it makes, it doesn't really matter in the end. If I get hit, I'll die anyways with that car.

Pretty sure seam welding is not going to negate whatever "crumple-zones" they built into the car anyway. When your plain mangling uni-body, welding a door seam is not going to stop things getting pretzel-ed. OTOH, it just might give the chassis that extra bit of strength to keep say, 1% of all possible intrusions into the cabin out.

I other words, your probably safer. Now if it creates a coffin with no door, then that could be an issue. But frankly your already halfway into a Game of Thrones scene in there anyway at that point.

Missed this. From a track/DE experience seam welding is great. I don't know if it has a safety factor to it, but you can definitely put me in the skeptical group.

definitely do the seam weld if you have motorsports in your future with this miata.

thanks, I'll definately do it whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Since the rebuild I've put close to 500km on the miata.
I think I've pinpointed the sound in the transmission to my clutch release bearing, which I changed but installed in a hurry.
Whenever I come to a stop, there's a little chipmunk sound coming from the tunnel, as I lightly press in the clutch (not even half an inch) the noise dissapears - as I release, it comes back sometimes, sometimes it doesn't.

I've got an opportunity next saturday to bring the miata to my brother in laws garage who's a master tech at ford to give it a full check up.
Finally left my second job so I have a little more time in my hands, given I still go to school and do 30 hours + at the garage.
Before I go there, I'll order a new OEM clutch release bearing, lower insulator and upper insulator for my shifter... maybe even a shifter bushing while I'm there.

This week, I'll tape up my tranny tunnel with aluminium tape and maybe next week the console in the middle will be installed and ready to go.
The softer damping really helped reduce the noise in the back, I'm glad I thought of that haha.

keep your inputs and experiences coming. sometimes I really hate this miata and knowing other people went through similar trials and tribulations gives me the boost I need to keep working on it.

Oh btw, F1 was in town this weekend, I got head to head with a modded 350z. Yeah I got raped.